Warren Buffett revealed he, not incoming CEO Greg Abel, initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s $31B stake in Alphabet, telling CNBC he was drawn in after the AI hyperscalers changed how they spend. Berkshire began building the position in the third quarter of 2025 and accelerated this year, adding $10B last month, which makes Alphabet its fifth- or sixth-largest holding. Buffett said he warmed to Google and its rivals only once they began spending like railroads and utilities on data centers and chips, a capital-intensive buildout he understands, admitting he made a mistake passing on Google for years. AI spending is closer to a trap than a win, Buffett said, with the hyperscalers “playing a game they don’t want to play,” a dynamic he likened to IBM’s decline even while calling Google a likelier winner than most of what Wall Street sells.
